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Our future, our universe, and other weighty topics

Sunday, June 30, 2013

In a solar system far, far from the sun, there was a giant ringed
planet. Around that planet revolved five moons: Roa, Suti, Serath,
Julta, and Cor. The largest of these was Cor, on which intelligent
life existed.

On Cor there was a man named Andar who had three friends: Bortus,
Sorn, and Cyro. One day the four men were looking up at the daylight
sky. In that sky they could see the four other moons of the giant
ringed planet, none of which had been explored by anyone.

“I hear the sound of a hundred trumpets blaring in my soul,”
said Andar. “And they are telling me: go and explore that moon in
the sky.” Andar pointed to the moon Roa.

The other men thought this was a mere flight of fancy, but Andar, a
natural leader, soon convinced them he was absolutely serious. Andar
persuaded the other three men to join him in a bold attempt to be the
first people from their moon to journey into space. The men spent
years raising funds for a spaceship. No government wanted to support this project, but the men were able
to raise the money from private citizens. When the spaceship was
completed, the men named it Fearless. The four men entered
into the spaceship and set off for the mysterious moon Roa.

To the Icy Moon
Roa

Roa was a frigid moon, and the men hoped that when the landing
vehicle of their spaceship landed on Roa, it would land on a big
solid plane of ice. But as the landing vehicle approached the surface
of Roa, there was a terrible surprise. As the men got very close to
the surface, they found that what they had thought was a solid ice
surface was really like a bathtub with twenty small ice cubes
floating in it. Almost all of the surface of the moon was really icy
water, and there was only an occasional small patch of solid ice.

“We're going to sink into the icy water!” yelled Bortus.

“I got this,” said Andar calmly. He landed the landing vehicle on
a small chunk of ice.

Wearing a spacesuit, Andar then left the vehicle and went out to the
edge of the ice chunk on which the vehicle had landed. He got ready
to plunge into the icy water to search for signs of life.

“Not a good idea!” said Sorn. “You'll freeze to death in that
water!”

But the intrepid Andar went ahead and jumped into the water. He spent
hours swimming in the icy water, and photographed many strange forms
of aquatic life. Finally he returned to the landing craft.

“I have photographic proof there's aquatic life on this moon!”
exulted Andar. “And I even caught two types of strange fish.”

The landing vehicle then blasted off and returned to the Fearless,
which then took the four men back to their home moon of Cor. The four
men were hailed by all as the first heroes of space. They had proven
that Cor was not the only place in the universe where life existed.

For a few years the men basked in the glory of this triumph. But then
one day Andar, Bortus, Sorn, and Cyro were all together outside, and
Andar looked up at the sky.

“I hear the sound of a hundred trumpets blaring in my soul,”
said Andar. “And they are telling me: go and explore that moon in
the sky.” Andar pointed to the moon Suti.

The other three men joined Andar in the second great expedition.
After years of preparation, the four men blasted off in the Fearless,
aiming to land on a very different type of moon.

To the Fiery
Moon Suti

Suti was a fiery moon where many volcanoes poured out burning red
lava. As their landing craft approached the surface of the moon, it
looked for a while as if the craft would sink into molten lava.

“We're going to burn to death!” howled Bortus.

“I got this,” said Andar calmly. He landed the landing vehicle on
a little island of solid rock, surrounded by red fiery lava.

Using a small telescope, Andar saw that 100 meters away in one
direction was a hill, and on that hill were some glistening minerals.

“We should go explore that,” Andar said.

“Are you nuts?” said Sorn. “To get over there, you'd have to
jump from rock to rock ten different times, leaping over fiery lava
each time.”

“But the gravity of this moon is so weak, I should be able to do
it,” said Andar. Then he performed the daring set of leaps. On the
hill Andar discovered a treasure trove of priceless exotic jewels.

After doing the same set of leaps to get back to the landing vehicle,
Andar said: “That's enough heroics for one mission. Let's get out
of here.”

The landing vehicle then blasted off and returned to the Fearless,
which then took the four men back to their home moon of Cor. The four
men were again hailed by all as great heroes of space exploration.
The jewels they discovered were made the main exhibit at a famous
museum.

For a few years the men enjoyed the glory of their second triumph.
But then one day Andar, Bortus, Sorn, and Cyro were all together
outside, and Andar looked up at the sky.

“I hear the sound of a hundred trumpets blaring in my soul,”
said Andar. “And they are telling me: go and explore that moon in
the sky.” Andar pointed to the moon Serath.

The other three men joined Andar in the third great space expedition.
After years of preparation, the four men blasted off in the Fearless,
aiming to land on a very different type of moon, the moon Serath.

To the Rocky
Moon Serath

Serath was a flat, dry, rocky moon where it was perfectly safe to
land. The main danger of the moon was its very frequent earthquakes.

Andar landed the landing vehicle on Serath with no difficulty. Almost
immediately after landing, the three members of the landing party
felt a seismic tremor.

Andar decided to go exploring the rocky surface with Bortus and Sorn.
The surface of the planet had deep crevices, narrow faults formed by
geological processes that had split open the rock surface. Andar had
the theory that at the bottom of those crevices, life might exist.

Andar went to the edge of a crevice, and tied a rope around his
waist. He requested that the other two men hold the rope. Andar was
going to lower himself down into the crevice.

“This is too dangerous,” said Bortus. “If something goes wrong,
we'll never be able to get you out of there.”

“I got this,” said Andar calmly, and lowered himself down into
the crevice. Lowering himself fifty meters deep, he reached the
bottom of the crevice.

They felt another tremor. “Come up now!” cried Sorn.

“No, I have to look for life down here,” said Andar.

Finally after hours of exploration at the bottom of the crevice,
Andar found the life forms he was looking for. After photographing
them and taking some biological samples, he asked the others to pull
him up to where they were, at the top of the crevice.

The tremors got worse, and the men hurried back to their landing
craft. Feeling a full-scale earthquake starting, they lifted off
from the moon, and entered into orbit, where they docked with the
Fearless. The men then happily returned to their home moon of
Cor.

The Last Hurrah

After returning home and touring their homeland to the greatest
acclaim and applause from their admirers, Andar, Bortus, Sorn, and
Cyro decided they were now too old to go on any more space missions.
They had once dreamed of exploring the last unexplored moon in the
sky: Julta. But they knew that moon was more dangerous than all the
others, so they gave up that dream.

After writing a book which made them much money, and after going on a
long speaking tour, the four men retired to a home for the aged. They
received many visitors who asked them about their exploits.

The four old men sat one day in the garden of their old folks home.
Then Andar looked up at the sky with a facial expression he had
displayed three times before.

“Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble,” said Bortus. “I've seen that
look in your eye before. Don't tell me – are you hearing the sound
of a hundred trumpets blaring in your soul?”

“No, I am not,” said Andar. “This time I hear the sound of a
thousand trumpets blaring in my soul. And they are telling me: go and explore that moon in the sky.”
Andar pointed to the moon Julta, the one moon none of them had set
foot on.

In a frenzy of excitement, Andar started barking out orders and
encouragement.

“Bortus, what were you hoping, that you would die in a bed of some
old folks home?” said Andar. “Lift up your old bones, and start
contacting people, so we can revive our ship Fearless.”

“Sorn, you still got some juice in that old head?” said Andar.
“Start working on a plan for us to land on Julta.”

“Cyro, you old fossil, you still got any courage or skill in that
wrinkled body?” said Andar. “Then start raising some funds so we
can go on one last mission.”

Andar looked up at the heavens again. “Sky, we're old as hell, but
we're not finished with you!” he shouted. “We have one last moon
to land on!”

The brave old men were all persuaded to go on one last mission, to
the most dangerous moon of all, the mysterious unexplored moon Julta.

Somewhere in their minds they all suspected that their previous luck
would not hold, and that they would end up freezing to death in icy
waters, or burning up in a river of lava, or crashing into a
mountain.

But they also knew in their hearts and their bones that they had to
go on one last voyage into space.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

For most of human history there has been only one type of marriage: a
marriage between a male and a female. But now we have same-sex
marriage, which has been supported this week by a ruling of the US
Supreme Court. With the recent advent of same-sex marriage, we now
have three possible permutations for marriage:

A marriage between a male and a female

A marriage between a male and a male

A marriage between a female and female

I have a suspicion that (for better or worse) there are still
additional permutations coming.

Let me explain why I suspect this. Yesterday there was a news
headline: UK may approve creating babies with DNA from 3 people. The
story was about an exotic genetic technique that could be used so
that certain couples with a genetic problem might have healthy
children by having doctors splice in additional genes from a third
person.

Now let's imagine if this process were to be legalized. The door
would be open to cases of entirely healthy parents combining their
genes with genes from a third person. Let's imagine Karl Karrington
has some special genes that cause him to be a brilliant scientist or
athlete. It might then be that John Doe and Jane Doe arrange to have
some of Karl's genes spliced into the genes of their developing
embryo, to improve the chances that their child will be a brilliant
scientist or athlete.

The result would, in effect, be a child with three parents. The child
would be sharing the genes from three people. Now if the world starts
seeing children with three parents, what can you imagine will happen
next? I imagine the next step would be a demand for a legalization of
polygamy.

Think of it: John Doe and Jane Doe go on television and tearfully
plea: why can't we marry Karl – he's one of the fathers of our
child.

If the idea of legalized polygamy sounds outrageous, I may note that
it is no more outrageous than the notion of gay marriage seemed
thirty years ago. There have already been cultures in which polygamy
was accepted.

If my suspicion about the future legalization of polygamy is correct,
then in the future we may soon be seeing wedding invitations like
this:

Friday, June 28, 2013

Al Kent had developed the strangest plan ever created for getting
rich.

Al had got his idea while doing medical research on cryonics, which
is the science that deals with preserving humans and animals at low
temperatures. Al had worked for a large bioengineering company that
was trying to develop medical techniques that could be used to put
very sick patients into a deep cold sleep, until their condition had
stabilized and a plan could be developed for treating them. Part of
Al's job had been developing experimental techniques that could put
animals into a deep, cold, cryonic sleep. The company had hoped that
these techniques could one day be used to help save sick humans.

After a month of making particularly good progress on this task, one
day Al had come home and thought to himself: what would it be like
for a human patient to go into a cold, deep sleep for thirty years,
and then wake up? After considering various ramifications, it had
occurred to Al that this type of long deep sleep would be a great
thing for the person financially. Because of what is called “the
magic of compound interest,” Al calculated that if a person had
$100,000 in an investment account earning 6%, and left the account
untouched for thirty years, at the end of the thirty year period the
investment would be worth about $574,000.

Then Al had thought to himself: wait a second, what if I did that
myself? The scheme had then hatched in his mind: he could use his
company's cryonic technology to put himself into a long, deep, cold,
cryonic sleep. He could sleep for thirty years, and when he woke up,
he would be rich. His investment portfolio would grow to a level of
wealth about six times greater than when he started.

At first Al just kept this idea in his mind as a pleasant fantasy.
But then he started to think about it more and more seriously. When
Al had experimented with inducing cryonic sleep in animals, he had
found that the long, deep sleep seemed to slow down their aging
process by about 70%. Al concluded that if he went into a thirty year
cold, deep sleep, he would wake up looking only about ten years
older. Being only 33 years old, Al figured that he could go into a
cryonic sleep for thirty years, and wake up looking only only about
43 years old.

One day Al was watching a television show called Revels of the
Filthy Rich, and he looked with envy at the big, beautiful
houses and shiny cars and exotic vacations of the people on TV. He
decided right there and then to put his radical plan into effect.

Al bought some land in a remote area of the woods. He arranged for
contractors to build an underground house there. He arranged for
other contractors to install a fence around the house, and to install
solar panels that would provide an uninterrupted power supply.

Then one day Al took a bunch of equipment and experimental drugs from
his company, the same things he had been using to put animals into a
long, cold, cryonic sleep. Al left a stack of fifty dollar bills to
pay for the things he had taken. He took the equipment and
experimental drugs to his underground home.

Using a combination of items he had taken from his company and items
he had developed at home, Al set up a cryonic sleep chamber designed
to keep him in a cold, deep sleep for thirty years. The chamber would
be powered for 30 years by the solar panels connected to his house.
Al set up a mechanism designed to slowly feed an experimental drug
into his body by means of an IV drip. The drug would help slow his
metabolic processes, so that he would not need food. Al set up
another mechanism designed to occasionally supply a tiny amount of
water to his body. In preparation for his cryonic sleep, Al had
gained seventy pounds. He calculated that given the extremely low
rate of metabolism he would have during his cold, cryonic sleep, his
extra seventy pounds would be enough to last him for the next thirty
years.

Just before sliding into the cryonic chamber, Al took a look at his
investment portfolio. He was worth about $170,000. He figured that
when he awoke thirty years later, he would be a millionaire.

Then Al pressed some buttons on his chamber, and went into a long,
deep, cold, cryonic sleep.

___________________________________________________

Thirty years later, the chamber's timer went off, and Al awoke. He
slowly climbed out of his cryonic chamber. He looked at his body. He
had lost about 90 pounds. But since he had gained 70 pounds before
entering into the chamber, he looked pleasantly thin.

Al immediately thought: what is my portfolio worth now? He grabbed
his cell phone and tried to call his investment bank. But the phone
was dead. Of course, thought Al; the phone bill hadn't been paid in
thirty years.

Al then decided to go visit his investment bank face to face. He
jumped into his car, and held his breath when turning the key. He was
surprised to find that he was able to start the car.

Al drove into the nearby city, and parked his car on the street. He
marveled at all the strange looking futuristic cars he saw on the
street. He then walked to his investment bank, and asked to see an
investment specialist.

“My name's Al Kent, and I need to check on the value of my
portfolio,” Al said. The investment specialist complained that the
company had not heard any word from Al in thirty years, and demanded
some proof of his identity. Al produced the proof.

“Well, looking at our records, I see here that your investment
portfolio is now worth $1,156,234,” said the investment specialist.

Al stood up. “I'm rich!” he exulted. “I'm filthy, stinking
rich!”

Al walked out of the bank, and decided to get some food. He hadn't
eaten in thirty years, and now that his metabolism was back to
normal, he had regained a healthy appetite. Al walked into a small
convenience store to buy something to eat.

Al picked up a sandwich, and looked at the price: $347.

Al thought to himself: what kind of a joke is this? Some computer
must have goofed when printing the price tag, he thought.

Then Al checked other items at the store: a cup of coffee cost $115,
and a can of beans cost $120.

Al thought to himself: what kind of a psycho store is this? He left
the little store, and went to a large supermarket across the street.

Al checked the prices. A head of lettuce cost $95. A loaf of bread
cost $249. A gallon of milk cost $429. Nowhere in the supermarket
could Al find anything that didn't seem to be a hundred times more
expensive than he expected.

Al walked out of the food supermarket, stunned. He sat down on the
street curb, and asked himself: how could this have happened?

Then finally he figured it out.

INFLATION!

During his thirty-year cold, deep, cryonic sleep, Al's portfolio had
grown at an annual rate of about 6%. But during that time the average
inflation rate had apparently been much higher than 6%. So now Al was
a millionaire, but his million dollars wasn't worth the same as a
million dollars in 2013. It was worth something much, much less.

Using the prices he had seen, Al did some math in his head to
estimate how much his million dollar portfolio was worth in 2013
dollars. He calculated that his portfolio was now worth about $10,000
in 2013 dollars.

Al was a millionaire, but his net worth had really dropped more than
90%. Instead of getting six times richer, he had gotten ten times
poorer. With everything being a hundred times more expensive, Al
would be lucky if his money lasted him another six months.

After figuring this out, Al was so sad that he bought himself a
six-pack of beer to drown his sorrows.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Because of other more urgent threats to our existence, defending the
Earth from a possible attack by an extraterrestrial invasion is not a
high priority. Until we get rid of the thousands of nuclear weapons
on our planet, the likelihood of us blowing ourselves up is much
greater than the chance of some aliens doing that. But imagine it is
the year 2100, and man has removed the most urgent short-term threats
to his existence, by solving the problem of global warming and
eliminating the threat of a nuclear holocaust. We might then look at
reducing the long term threats to mankind, including the threat of an
alien invasion. What technologies might we use to defend ourselves
from an alien attack? Below is a list of some of the technologies
that could be used.

1. Defensive Space Ships

A defensive space ship is probably the first thing that comes to most
minds when they think of defending Earth from alien attack. It is
easy to imagine a space ship armed with some kind of laser cannon or
guided missiles or even conventional cannons. Such a ship could move
close to any invading alien ship, and launch an attack against it.
However, such ships might not be the most effective way to defend the
planet. The hot rocket exhaust of a spaceship gives off an infrared
signature that would be very easy for any invading alien ship to
detect. It would probably be very easy for an alien space ship to
detect some other ship that was approaching it, and launch a
counterattack that would stop it.

2. Earth-to-Space Ballistic Missiles

This type of defensive weapon would be easy to construct using
technology only slightly different from existing intercontinental
ballistic missile technology. Instead of traveling from continent to
continent, the missiles would travel from the ground to an orbit
around our planet. The missiles would be designed to blow up a
nuclear bomb near an alien spacecraft that had started to orbit our
planet. The weakness of this technology is that the hot rocket
exhaust of such a missile would give off an infrared signature that
would be very easy for an alien ship to detect. So an alien ship
might be able to detect the missile's launch, and blast the missile
into pieces while it was rising through the atmosphere.

3. Orbiting Nuclear Bombs

There is currently a treaty that prohibits placing nuclear weapons in
orbit. But if that treaty could be modified, we could put into place
a simple and reliable system of planetary defense by placing a host
of hydrogen bombs at various different orbits around our planet. If
we were then attacked by an alien ship, we could simply send a radio
signal causing the satellite bomb closest to the ship to explode.
That would give no warning, and would therefore be hard to defend
against.

4. Defensive Lunar Mass Drivers

According
to the wikipedia.org article on mass drivers, “A mass driver or
electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket
spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult
payloads up to high speeds.” Mass-drivers were originally
conceived as a way of catapulting lunar materials towards the earth,
to provide materials that could be used in the construction of space
colonies. Robert Heinlein in his novel The
Moon is a Harsh Mistress
imagined that a lunar colony rebelling against Earth could use a
mass-driver to pummel the Earth with rocks that would strike our
planet with a devastating kinetic energy.

Lunar Mass Driver Hurtling Rocks Into Space

It
is easy to imagine lunar mass-drivers that would serve as defensive
weapons to attack invading alien ships. The mass drivers would shoot
a hailstorm of small rocks at any ships that were trying to orbit our
planet. A mass-driver might be able to launch hundreds of rocks every
minute. Each one would hurtle through space with enough kinetic
energy to cripple an alien spacecraft. Even if the ship had some kind
of defensive technology, or “hull breach sealing” technology, it
might not be able to defend against an onslaught of hundreds of rocks
being propelled every second from a large group of mass drivers on
the moon.

5. Asteroids with Mass Driver Weapons

Just
as it would not be very hard to construct a mass-driver on the moon,
and turn it into a weapon for destroying invading alien ships, the
same technology could be employed on near-Earth asteroids. Imagine an
alien ship has reached orbit around Earth. The ship detects an
asteroid coming within 20 miles of our planet. This seems like
nothing to worry about. But then suddenly the asteroid starts
shooting a hailstorm of small projectiles aimed at the alien ship,
and a similar rocky hailstorm shoots out over and over again. That
type of ambush would be very hard to defend against.

6. Radio-controlled Asteroids with Nuclear Bombs

Another possible weapon against alien invasions would simply be an asteroid that had been hollowed out and filled with one or more nuclear bombs. Such an asteroid could be discreetly provided with a propulsion system, which could be created either through a small rocket or a mass driver designed to produce a propulsive effect, in accordance with Newton's Third Law. If a hostile alien ship appeared, the asteroid could be ordered to approach to within a certain number of miles of the ship, which might attract no attention, as it might appear to be a natural motion. The asteroid could then ignite its nuclear weapons, destroying the alien craft.

7. Directed Energy Beam Weapons

Powerful as they may be, the types of weapons mentioned above all
would travel much more slowly than the speed of light, possibly
allowing an alien ship some chance of defending against the attack.
For the purpose of an ambush, the most effective weapon would be one
that operated at the speed of light. One such weapon would be a
powerful laser beam weapon. Such a weapon might be hidden on the
surface of the moon. A laser beam weapon shot from the moon would
give an alien ship orbiting Earth only two seconds to defend
itself. That would be pretty much the ideal ambush.

Do we have any of these types of weapons now? No. We are sitting
ducks, ripe for conquest. So if you ever look up in the sky and see a
star in the sky far brighter than any you have ever seen before, you had
better say your prayers that the arriving visitors mean well.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

It all happened in a single week: an extraterrestrial spacecraft was
seen in orbit around Earth; a smaller craft was seen traveling from
the spacecraft to the surface of Earth; the smaller craft deposited a
huge metal sphere onto the surface of an Arizona desert; the smaller
craft returned to the main extraterrestrial spacecraft; and the
spacecraft then sped away out of the solar system.

Scientists and military personnel rushed to the Arizona desert where
the huge metal sphere had been placed. They found that the bottom of
the sphere had a locked entrance door. Next to the door was some kind of
interface panel consisting of screens and knobs and user controls.
Above the door was a sign which said:

WHOEVER SOLVES THIS PUZZLE SHALL BE TAUGHT THE SECRETS OF THIRTY
PLANETS

At the White House the President of the United States talked with his
advisers concerning what to do about the strange alien sphere in the
desert.

“We think that the interface panel next to the door of this sphere
is an interface challenging you to solve some puzzle,” said the
White House science adviser Howard Fontaine. “We think if someone
can solve that puzzle, the door will then open, and we can see
what's inside the sphere.”

“Maybe the aliens who left this sphere didn't want anyone to learn
their secrets unless the person was smart enough to solve the
puzzle,” said the President. “What kind of puzzle is it?”

“We've had a few people try it, and it's very difficult,” said
Fontaine. “The puzzle interface presents you with a few hundred 3D
objects or pieces, which you can rotate and position in 3D space. But
you can also specify the speed and motion direction of any object you
assemble from the pieces. It's kind of like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, with
the addition of a lot of Newtonian physics. We think that the puzzle
can only be solved by correctly assembling the pieces to form some
particular object or scene, with all assembled objects moving in some
appropriate way.”

“Clearly only the most brilliant mind could solve such a puzzle,”
said the President. “Let's gather the smartest people we can get
our hands on, and send them down to Arizona to try and solve this
puzzle. Then hopefully those doors will open, and we can get our
hands on this treasure trove of alien knowledge.”

A long list of brilliant minds went to the alien sphere in Arizona,
and each tried to solve the puzzle, so that the doors of the sphere
could be opened. One was a Harvard PhD in Applied Mathematics.
Another was the most successful 3D game designer in Silicon Valley.
Another was a man who had won $500,000 on a TV game show called Puzzle
Mania. Then there was the author of the most widely used
textbook on computer graphics. Then there was an astronomer from
Cornell University, who held the chair once occupied by Carl Sagan.
Then there was the most brilliant mind used by the military to crack
the codes used by foreign governments.

They all failed miserably.

The brilliant minds were able to figure out the basics of how to use
the puzzle interface, how to position the 3D objects in space, and
control their motion and trajectory. Some of the geniuses were able
to use some of the puzzle pieces to assemble a scene, such as a bird
flying around a house. But none of them was able to make use of all
of the 3D puzzle pieces. It was as if they had taken some of the
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and assembled a little scene, but had
still left most of the puzzle pieces unused.

But there was one person who was convinced he could solve the puzzle.
The person was a boy named Waldo Shrumpdinkel, who was ten years old.
Waldo was a funny looking kid, with red hair, a face full of
freckles, and a gap between his front teeth. From the time he was
three years old, Waldo had always loved to play with Lego blocks,
that toy consisting of little plastic blocks you can connect
together. Waldo would even play with his Lego blocks when he was
riding on the school bus. The other kids gave him the cruel nickname
Lego Boy. In the hallways of his school, Waldo would get taunts such
as: here comes the Lego Boy, have you got some Lego blocks for me,
Lego Boy?

While studying the alien puzzle online, Waldo became convinced he had
the solution to the puzzle. So he insisted that his parents take him
to Arizona, so he could give the puzzle a try. After much arguing,
they finally agreed.

So Waldo approached the alien sphere in Arizona, which was guarded by
a platoon of soldiers.

“Let me try the puzzle,” said Waldo. “I know I can solve it.”

“You, little boy?” said the platoon leader. “Well, I
guess my guys could use a chuckle. Go ahead, give it a try. Fellows,
get a load out of who's trying the puzzle now!”

Waldo approached the alien sphere. Going up to the puzzle interface
next to the door, he began trying his solution.

Somehow Waldo had been able to see the puzzle solution in his mind,
which had been sharpened by thousands of hours of Lego practice.
Using the interface panel, he assembled half of the puzzle pieces
into a shape that matched the shape of the extraterrestrial
spacecraft that had appeared orbiting Earth. He assembled the other
half of the puzzle pieces into a shape that resembled a ringed
planet. Then Waldo used some of the interface controls to make the
spaceship shape start revolving around the planet shape.

“I did it!” said Waldo. “I used all the pieces! That's the
solution to the puzzle: a scene that shows the alien spaceship
revolving around its home planet!”

A strange loud noise came from the alien sphere. The doors at its
base opened. Waldo ran into the sphere through its open doors.

“Follow him!” yelled the platoon leader. Some soldiers also tried
to enter the sphere, but before they could enter, the doors closed.

Then for ten long days, there was no sign of Waldo. The doors of the
sphere stayed closed. A huge crowd assembled around the sphere,
waiting for Waldo to come out of the sphere. Waldo's parents were
worried that he might have no food or drink inside the sphere.

“The message over the doors says that whoever solves the puzzle
will be taught the secrets of thirty planets,” said Waldo's mom.
“Let's hope Waldo is having a nice educational experience.”

Finally after ten days there was a loud noise from the alien sphere.
The doors of the sphere opened. Waldo walked through the doors, and approached a crowd of reporters
and television cameras.

As billions watched on television, the whole world waited breathlessly for what the little boy would say
next. Then he began to speak.

“I have developed some useful...suggestions on how our
society should be completely restructured,” said Waldo with
complete confidence, “and I have some helpful...hints on how
to reorganize life on this planet.”

The long era of human history known as the Atomic Age had now ended.

The next seventy years of human history would be known by all as the
Age of Waldo Shrumpdinkel.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

On Saturday I put up on this blog a post entitled “Where is the
Most Beautiful View in the Universe?” I imagined nine types of
views that can be considered candidates for the most beautiful view
in the universe. One of the nine types was: The View From a Planet
Orbiting a Binary Star. I depicted a planet where one could view a
double sunset. But the universe has a way of surpassing our wildest
imaginings. Today it was announced by scientists that in a nearby
star system there are 3 “super Earth” planets in the habitable
zone where someone might be able to view not just a double sunset,
but a triple sunset.

The star is Gliese 667C, which is only 22 light years away, pretty
much in the back yard of our sun (the nearest star is a little less
than 5 light years away). Astronomers have discovered three “super
Earth” planets in the habitable zone of this star. The habitable
zone is the region of a solar system that is neither too hot for
liquid water to exist, nor too cold for liquid water to exist. Each
of the planets is a few times larger than the Earth, and life and
water might exist on any one of them.

This star Gliese 667C is actually part of a triple star system, the
other two stars being Gliese 667B and Gliese 667A. The three stars
rotate around each other, but the three super-Earth planets of Gliese
667C revolve around just that star, rather than the whole triple
system of stars.

Since the three super-Earth planets of Gliese 667C are in the
habitable zone, and are not too large to preclude the existence of
life, there seems a quite real chance that life may have evolved on
one of the planets. An observer on such a planet would apparently
have the incredible spectacle of being able to see a triple sunset –
a sunset involving not one sun, but three suns.

Today's news story came up with an artist's depiction of the view
from a planet of Gliese 667C, showing three suns in the triple star
system. However, I doubt whether the artist got things rights. The
artwork shows three whitish yellow suns. But Gliese 667C is a red
dwarf star, and Gliese 667A and Gliese 667B are K class stars, which
means they should have an orange color.

Below is my own depiction of the view from one of the super-Earth
planets revolving around Gliese 667C, and I think this depiction has the correct
color scheme. I imagine life existing on the planet, which is
consistent with what we know about the three super-Earth planets
being in the habitable zone. I also imagine that from one of the
super-Earth planets you would be able to see one of the other
super-Earth planets, and see just a tiny bit of its features. This is
rather plausible given what we know, that these three planets larger
than Earth are fairly close to each other.

So we have a new candidate for a type of view that would be one of
the most beautiful in the universe.

Monday, June 24, 2013

When high school student Jerry Tyler took his date to the Senior
Prom, he couldn't help thinking to himself: I've lived through this
event many times before.

Before long the school year ended, and Jerry absorbed himself in the
teenage summer fun at his little town: the parties, the informal
baseball games, the dates with pretty girls, and the swims at the
local pond. In the middle of the summer, Jerry got a letter from his
high school saying he needed to repeat Grade 12, because his school
grades were not high enough.

Next September on the first day of school Jerry sat with his friend
Vinny in the school cafeteria.

“Looks like we goofed off too much,” chuckled Vinny. “We'll
have to repeat Grade 12, but it should be a cinch.”

“This doesn't make sense, Vinny,” said Jerry. “Last year I aced
all the tests. My grades were almost perfect. So why are they making
me repeat Grade 12?”

“You must have slipped up somewhere,” said Vinny.

“No, I'm sure I didn't,” said Jerry. “And you know why I'm so
sure? Because I've already been through Grade 12 quite a few times
before. I keep coming back here to this high school to repeat Grade
12, and each year I get better grades, because I've already taken all
the courses. Last year I remembered the material so well that my
grades were almost perfect.”

“That's weird,” said Vinny. “Come to think of it, it's
basically been the same deal for me. Grade 12: been there, done
that, so many times I've lost track.”

“You know what else is weird?” said Jerry. “We have exactly the
same Grade 12 students that we had last year. Look around the
cafeteria. Do you see one single person you don't recognize from last
year?”

“No,” said Vinny. “As far as I can see every single student who
was in the Grade 12 class last year is in the Grade 12 class this
year.”

“That would be fine,” said Jerry. “Except that it's not
supposed to be that way. I remember reading somewhere that after you
finish high school, you're supposed to go on to college or get a job.
But here we are, repeating our senior year over and over again. And
everybody else is doing the same thing.”

Vinny and Jerry spent a while trying to remember as far back as they
could. After their recollections, they came to the conclusion that
this was their tenth consecutive year as senior high school students
in Grade 12.

“We've got to get an answer to this thing,” said Vinny. “Let's
go talk to the school principal and demand an answer.”

The kids were told several times that the school principal Mr. Jones
was too busy to talk with them. Finally they waited outside the
principal's office until the end of the day. When the principal was
locking his office, the kids demanded to talk to him. They explained
how puzzled they were about repeating Grade 12 year after year
for ten straight years.

Mr. Jones brought the kids into his office, and confessed a secret.

“Look, guys,” said Jones. “you're not supposed to know this,
but I guess I'll have to tell you or else you'll start talking to
your friends. There's a simple explanation for everything.”

“What is it?” asked Jerry.

“You're robots,” said the principal. “You're both androids.”

“Yeah, right,” said Jerry incredulously.

“No, I'm not kidding,” said Jones. “Let me prove it.”

Jones took his fingers, and in an instant he moved them close to
Jerry's eye, as if he were trying to grab the wings off a fly an inch
from Jerry's eye.

“You see?” said Jones. “You didn't flinch. You didn't even
blink. If you were a human, you would have flinched when I did that.
But unlike a human, you have no reflexes.”

“I still don't believe you,” said Vinny.

“Check your friend's pulse,” said Jones. “Then let him check
your pulse.” They both tried, and found no pulse.

“No pulse, no reflexes : that means you're a robot,” said Jones.
“But don't feel bad about it, because everybody on this planet is a
robot. You, me, and every one else on planet Earth.”

“So if that's true, then what happened to the people, the regular
humans?” asked Jerry.

“They all died when the planet got too hot for them,” explained
Jones. “The humans kept polluting the planet, and the temperature
got hotter because of all the global warming caused by their carbon
dioxide pollution. The polar ice caps started to melt, and when that
happened it released a bunch of frozen methane which acted as a
global warming super-catalyst. This caused some diseases to spiral
out of control. The combination of the high temperatures and the
diseases killed off all of the humans.”

“So if we're all robots, how come we don't act like robots?”
asked Jerry. “How come we act like regular humans? I never acted
like a robot a day in my life.”

“To answer that, I have to tell a little tale,” said Jones. “When
we robots were first created, the humans were all concerned that we
robots were going to take over the planet. So they taught us very
carefully: humans are better than robots. Every robot had this
drilled in its head a thousand times: humans are better than
robots. Then all the humans died. We robots were at a loss to
figure out how to spend our time. Eventually we robots decided: if
humans really are better than robots, we robots should be acting like
humans.”

“So we robots starting reading books, trying to understand how to
behave like humans,” continued Jones. “But we couldn't figure it
out very well. Then finally us robots started watching the television
series the humans made: shows like I Love Lucy,The
Sopranos, House, Days of Our Lives, Two and a
Half Men, As the World Turns and All My Children.
Then finally we understood exactly how humans had lived.”

“So we robots started to build what we call replication
communities,” added Jones. “Each replication community was a
place for robots to live, and each one was based on a particular
television series that the humans used to watch. It was the perfect
way for robots to behave like humans. Our community is based on a
television series called Happy Days. It's all centered around
the carefree school life of a bunch of teenagers.”

“So that's why we've been repeating our senior year over and over
again for ten years?” asked Jerry.

“Yes,” said Jones. “They figured that since we robots can live
for centuries, there's no point in having a robot move from one type
of life to another, like the humans would do. They figured: just put
a robot in some situation in a replication community, and leave him
there until the robot stops working.”

“Well, I guess that explains it all,” said Vinny. “But we're
sick of doing the same things over and over, year after year. How
many Senior Proms can you go to? Isn't there some way we can move on
to other types of experiences?”

“Since you've already discovered a secret we don't want you to tell
here, perhaps you should move on to a different replication
community,” said Jones. “Meet me here tomorrow, and I can drive
you to a new replication community.”

The two boys met Jones the next day, and they set out on the road in
his car. They passed by a town with a run-down look, including some
buildings with graffiti.

Finally Jones drove to a lovely ocean-front community. There were
many beautiful beaches, on which strolled a host of bikini-clad young
android women and muscular young android men.

“This is perfect for you,” said Jones. “This is the Baywatch
replication community. Baywatch was a TV show about
lifeguards. Everyone loved it because of the beautiful beach scenes
and all the girls wearing skimpy bikinis. You can basically spend
almost all day playing on the beach. Once in a while, you can pretend
to be drowning, just for the sake of fitting in. If you see a male
lifeguard coming, start swimming correctly. If you see a female
lifeguard coming, you might end up getting a nice demonstration of
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The female lifeguards will all be
incredibly sexy.”

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Jerry. “Cool,” said Vinny.

“I figured you'd like it,” said Jones. “That's because when
they manufactured you, they programmed all those 'horny teenager'
behavior instructions, and downloaded that software to your neural
circuits.”

Sunday, June 23, 2013

It
is easy to come up with a list of the most breathtaking views on
planet Earth, adding items such as the view from the Empire State
Building, the view from the Eiffel Tower, the view from the rim of
the Grand Canyon, the view from behind Machu
Picchu, and
the view from Yosemite Valley. But let's think bigger, and ask:
where is the most beautiful view in the universe? We cannot specify
one particular place, but we can at least consider different types of
cosmic vistas, and ponder which type is the most beautiful.

Here is a list of types of vistas that are as likely as any to
contain the most beautiful view in the universe.

Candidate 1: The
View From Above a Life-Bearing Planet

One plausible candidate for the most beautiful view in the universe
is simply the view from a space station above any life-bearing
planet. Someone in a space station above a planet like Earth can
enjoy a most glorious spectacle of color and motion. At such a
spot the rotation of the planet and the swirling motion of the clouds
means you almost never see the same sight below you. Before long we
will have space tourists who will spend a million dollars or more
mainly just to enjoy such a view for a short time.

Candidate 2: The
View From a Ringed Planet's Moon

The moon in the sky of our planet makes a great contribution to the
beauty of our sky, but imagine what it would look like if the moon
were ten or twenty times bigger in the sky. Then imagine that the
moon had rings around it. That is pretty much what the view would
look like if you were on the moon of a ringed gas-giant planet such
as Saturn.

Below is how such a view might look like. Since we know that Saturn's
moon Titan has a thick atmosphere, the depiction is that of a moon
with an atmosphere.

Candidate 3: The
View From a Planet Orbiting a Binary Star

For me the most unforgettable moment in the first Star Wars movie was
the moment when Luke Skywalker on the planet Tatooine views a sunset
involving not just one sun but two suns. Scientists have actually
discovered two real world planets like Tatooine: Kepler 34b and
Kepler 35b. Each revolves around two different stars.

Below is a look at how a sunset might look on such a planet.

Candidate 4: The
View From a Planet Near an Open Cluster Within our Galaxy

Within our galaxy of more than 100 billion stars there are numerous
star clusters called open clusters, areas where stars exist in much
greater numbers than they do near our sun. Around the sun there is
about one star every five light years, but within an open cluster
there might be a few hundred stars within an area only 30 light years
across. The view from a planet near such an open cluster would be
breathtaking. You might look up in the sky and see several stars as
bright as the moon is in our sky. Since these types of clusters are
right here in our galaxy, we have reason to suspect that many
intelligent beings may have enjoyed such spectacular views from their
planets.

Here is how such a view might look, from a planet near the Pleiades
open cluster.

Candidate 5: The
View From a Mountain Much Taller Than Everest

We know that Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain in the solar
system. The Olympus Mons mountain on Mars is about three times
taller. So we may presume that in the universe there are many
mountains much taller than Everest. You must be able to get some of
the most beautiful views in the universe from the tops of such
mountains. Below is a depiction of such a view.

Candidate 6: The
View From a Building as Tall as Pike's Peak

On our planet the tallest skyscraper is the Burj Khalifa with a
height of 829 meters. But within our vast universe, there are
probably some races more advanced than ours which have built
skyscrapers as high as 5000 meters. The view from such buildings must
be astonishingly, overlooking vast futuristic cities. Below is an
attempt to imagine the view from such a building on an alien planet,
one with a large moon.

Candidate 7: The
View From a Planet Near a Planetary Nebula

When a star several times more massive than the sun explodes in a
supernova, the star's gas shoots out into space, creating a very
beautiful sight called a planetary nebula. Our galaxy is full of
gloriously photogenic planetary nebulae, having a great variety of
colors and shapes. A planet near a planetary nebula would offer one
of the most beautiful views in the universe. But it probably would
not be worth the view, because if you lived there you would be likely
to get zapped by cosmic radiation from the supernova. Below is an
attempt to visualize the view from a planet near a planetary nebula.

Candidate 8: The
View From a Planet Near a Globular Cluster

Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars that orbit our
galaxy. Globular clusters are believed to be poor in the metals
needed for rocky planets, so perhaps we cannot plausibly imagine the
view from a planet inside a globular cluster. But we can plausibly
imagine a planet revolving around a star on the outskirts of our
galaxy, and from such a planet one might be able to see a glorious
close-up view of a globular cluster. It might look something like
the image shown below.

Candidate 9: The
View From a Planet Just Outside a Spiral Galaxy

Anyone can see our galaxy from the surface of our planet, a fact that
is tragically unknown to many city dwellers. But those who live far
away from cities know that all you need to see the Milky Way is to
get far away from lights on a crystal clear night, and you will see
our galaxy as a faint river of stars in the sky. But imagine the
view from a planet on the far outskirts of our galaxy. From that
planet you would be able to see the full glory of our galaxy, with
its swirling spiral arms. Below is an attempt to visualize such a
view.

Now reader, from this discussion I'm sure you are now well prepared
to answer this question: where do you think is the most beautiful
view in the universe?

Copyright Notice

All posts on this blog are authored by Mark Mahin, and are protected by copyright. Copyright 2013-2014 by Mark Mahin. All rights reserved. Any resemblance between any fictional character and any real person is purely coincidental.